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SourceJerry Nelson (July 10, 1934 - August 23, 2012) was an American puppeteer, singer, and musician who started his career working for Bill Baird. Throughout the 1960s, he worked on-and-off with Jim Henson before officially joining Henson's company full-time in 1970, becoming one of the principal Muppet performers.

In 2004, Nelson announced that he would be moving away from performing his classic Muppet characters, citing health reasons. However, he continued to provide the voices of his Sesame Street characters, including Count von Count, with Matt Vogel performing the puppetry of said characters until Nelson's passing.

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Early Works with Henson

Jerry Nelson first worked with Jim Henson in 1965 when Frank Oz got drafted and Henson needed somebody to perform the right hand of Rowlf on The Jimmy Dean Show. However, Frank Oz failed his draft physical, but since Nelson had just gotten his job, Oz chose to take some time off from performing and thereby allow Nelson to stay on with the Muppets.

The Muppet Show

Jerry Nelson performed in both of the Muppet Show pilots. In The Muppets Valentine Show, he returned to the role of Thog and also performed Droop and Miss Mousey. In The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence, he performed Electric Mayhem bass player Floyd Pepper for the first time. In that special, he also performed Statler, Dr. Nauga, Gluttony, Envy, the Yellow Stalk, Whaddayasay Bird and the Gene Shalit Muppet.

When production began on The Muppet Show as a series, Nelson chose to spend some time with his daughter and therefore couldn't perform in every first-season episode. Because of this, he had to give up the role of Statler, but for the most part, he retained his other characters (Floyd, Robin, Droop, etc.) from previous productions. Nelson did not perform in episodes 101-103 and 111-115. However, when the first two episodes were reworked later in the first season, Nelson performed Floyd in a segment that was added to episode 102.

Each one of them is an aspect of my own personality. The Muppets are roles I assume, rather than puppets I manipulate. Robin, for instance, is an undersized metaphor for my own insecurities. He has a childlike curiosity about how things work. Uncle Deadly is the greatest ham actor of all time; Floyd is my laid-back, mellow side -- cool. And then there's Crazy Harry, whose ultimate trip is spontaneous combustion. An analyst told me I should develop that side of my personality. I don't think he meant I should go around exploding everything -- just that I should give my emotions more freedom.

Nelson continued to speak fondly of his performance opportunities in later years:

I feel blessed to have worked on something that has become such an icon of the times. I've certainly always thought I've been really lucky in that respect. I enjoy singing and I get to sing a lot. I get to be in a band (the Electric Mayhem) without really being in a band. All of those things make me say, 'Well, that's one blessing. That's another blessing.

2000s

Beginning around 2001, Jerry Nelson began to phase outperforming his primary Muppet Show family characters. Many of his characters drifted to silent background roles and several were recast (Statler given to Steve Whitmire starting with 2002's "Keep Fishin'" music video; Floyd to John Kennedy and then Matt Vogel; Nelson's half of the Two-Headed Monster on Sesame Street to Joey Mazzarino in 2001). For the 2002 TV movie It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, Bill Barretta replaced him as Lew Zealand, but Nelson looped the voices of Robin, Floyd, Statler, Pops, Maxine, the announcer and a rat. Nelson also continued to provide the voices of his Sesame Street characters, including Count von Count, and the Amazing Mumford, while Matt Vogel normally performed the puppetry. By 2008, Vogel had assumed most of Nelson's Muppet Show roles as well.

It was long rumored that health issues were beginning to limit Nelson's involvement in projects as the aging puppeteer continued to stay active in the ranks of the Muppeteers. Beginning around 2001, complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and prostate cancer limited Nelson's involvement with the high-demanding Muppet projects. Nelson openly stated in August 2006 that "It is long and boring but I have had health issues for a couple of years now. Different ones...I do intend to work with my old friend Count Von Count again this next season." Nelson also participated in exclusive DVD interviews for the first two seasons of Fraggle Rock and Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas.